Masdar City offer for AI firms; Jais Climate LLM

Middle East AI News weekly digest...

Good morning!

Welcome to this week’s Middle East AI News!

Masdar City has caused a bit of a stir this week, as it announced reduced packages for business licencing and office space for AI ventures of all sizes (starting at AED 12,000 / $3,288) . This was an announcement made yesterday by MBZUAI and Masdar City in conjunction with the COP28 UAE meetings. However, few details are available at this stage and there’s no landing page on the Masdar City website for the offer as yet.

Meanwhile, Core42 and MBZUAI released a Jais Climate chatbot this week, Abu Dhabi’s Edge Group has taken control of the Strategic Development Fund (that typically invests in defence, aviation and robotics), and Dubai prepares for the Dubai Future Forum!

Later today, I’ll be hosting Middle East AI News LIVE - THURSDAY DEEP DIVE on LinkedIn at 12 noon KSA | 1pm UAE time | 9am GMT!

I will be talking to Professor Merouane Debbah, professor at Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa University and founding director of the university’s 6G Centre. We’ll be talking about AI’s impact on mobile networks, telecom LLMs and why AI will be at the heart of 6G!

Click here to register for today’s THURSDAY DEEP DIVE!

Thanks for reading!

/Carrington

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Licencing

Open up in Abu Dhabi for just $3,300

#UAE #licencing - Artificial intelligence companies can now set-up operations in Abu Dhabi's Masdar City for as little as 12,000 UAE dirhams per year (or $3,288), under a new business package created by Masdar City and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI). Businesses of any size that have a core focus on AI will be able to apply for the package. (Middle East AI News)

LLMs

MBZUAI and Core42 launch Jais Climate

#UAE #LLMs - Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) and Core42 have announced Jais Climate, the world’s first bilingual large language model dedicated to climate intelligence. The AI model was trained on ClimaInstruct, the largest instruction-based bilingual data set on climate and sustainability-related topics. The chatbot is available online until the end of COP28 (The National)

Data Centres

Egypt’s first hyper-scale data centre

#Egypt #UAE #datacentres - Khazna Data Centers, part of Abu Dhabi-based G42 Group, has signed a deal with Egyptian digital infrastructure provider Benya Group, to build Egypt's first hyper-scale data center, in Maadi Technology Park. Total investment for the project exceeds 250 million dollars and will support the development of artificial intelligence at the park. (Intelligent CIO)

Education

Egypt to launch biggest AI competition

#Egypt #competitions - Shagoof, an Egyptian AI training company, will launch Codeavour competition in Egypt in cooperation with the Indian Stempedia for the first time next February. The competition could be the biggest of its kind worldwide, and aims to attract  12 to 18 thousand competitors and their parents. (Zawya)

MBZUAI's executive graduates propose sustainability solutions

#UAE #executiveeducation - A proposal to create a National Food and Water Security Observatory was celebrated as the top project from the recent cohort in the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) Executive Program. 42 senior business and government leaders from the UAE took part in the 12-week program. (Middle East AI News)

eVTOL

Ascendance & Manta sign-up for SAVI

#UAE #eVTOL - French aviation company Ascendance and Italian hybrid-electric Vertical and Short Take-off and Landing aircraft manufacturer Manta Aircraft have signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to join Abu Dhabi’s Smart and Autonomous Vehicles Industry cluster (SAVI). Manta Aircraft will manufacturer three electric aircraft models there. (Emirates News Agency)

Drones

Aramex signs with Dronamics for UAE drone delivery

#UAE #dronedelivery - Dubai-headquartered logistics company Aramex has announced drone delivery flights, via an agreement with UK cargo drone operator Dronamics. The service is expected to be 80 per cent faster, 50 per cent cheaper, and 60 per cent lower CO₂ emissions compared to traditional transport. (Khaleej Times)

Dubai Future Forum

2,500 experts to meet at Dubai Future Forum

#UAE #futurism - More than 150 speakers and 2,500 experts from the UAE and around the world will participate in 70 panel discussions, keynote speeches and workshops at the Dubai Future Forum next week. (Emirates News Agency)

Online safety

SDAIA campaign to protect children’s personal data

#Saudi #dataprotection - Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) has launched an awareness campaign aimed at safeguarding children’s personal data. Timed to coincide with World Children’s Day, the campaign aims to help protect children’s privacy, ensure their rights regarding personal data processing, and adhere to regulations and child rights conventions. (Arab News)

Defence

EDGE takes control of SDF

#UAE #investment - Abu Dhabi's Strategic Development Fund (SDF), which makes investments in global defence and aviation, has now become part of government-owned Edge Group. SDF will feed expansion of Edge's portfolio of companies focusing on defence, aerospace, urban mobility, robotics and dual-use technology sectors. (Emirates News Agency)

UAE Ministry of Defence orders 100 REACH-S UAVs from EDGE

#UAE #UAVs - Abu Dhabi defence technology group EDGE, announced its first major order from the UAE Armed Forces. for the locally-manufactured REACH-S fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (or UAVs). Announced at the Dubai Airshow, the order to supply 100 of the UAVs, which are developed by Edge's Advanced Concepts business unit. (Defense Aerospace)